Truppenamt - Transition To The New Reichswehr

Transition To The New Reichswehr

The manuals and regulations now being in place, even if under constant revision from this new base, the Truppenamt set about reshaping the new army to fit its treaty constraints and its new doctrinal approach. The 'triangular' infantry division replaced the 'square division', with no brigade level staff and three regiments instead of four. Support forces such as artillery, reconnaissance, transport and signals were all increased and control in many cases pushed down the organisation. All of this related to the new 'war of movement' doctrine that had been adopted. The Wehrmacht infantry division in 1939 showed very few changes from that outlined in 1921. The cavalry division was similarly reinforced with support arms and armoured cars making it capable of independent operations deep behind enemy lines.

The Truppenamt turned some of the Versailles limitations into advantages. The very limited number of officers forced it to rethink the roles at headquarters and this dovetailed with their doctrine of decision at the front by those who can see the enemy. Correspondingly, despite a Versailles limit of 33 officers in a divisional HQ, the Germans planned to have 30 which was in stark contrast to a US divisional staff of 79. Again, this fitted with a force who would be attacking and making many more decisions outside of the headquarters which could therefore be leaner. The Versailles treaty placed no limitations on NCO numbers and by 1922 the Reichswehr had over 50% of enlisted manpower at NCO ranks, leaving only 36,000 privates. The high quality of German soldiers, made possible by the much reduced numbers forced by the treaty, meant that the Reichswehr could employ NCOs at junior officer roles such as platoon leaders. This had two effects, when the Germans rearmed in 1933-34 they could easily promote these NCOs to officers as the army expanded, also it established a tradition of much greater leadership, responsibility and capability below the officer level which fitted with the delegated authority doctrine necessary for bewegungskrieg or the war of movement where use of independent judgement and fast local decision making is necessary.

This increased demand upon NCOs required them to be treated differently in this army than the old Imperial one in order to support them in their efforts. Hence all NCOs were now to have a barracks room of their own and all soldiers were to be much better accommodated and trained than before. In the 1920s, the soldiers were often distributed throughout the country at battalion and regimental size only forming into larger units for occasional exercises. This was part of the Truppenamt's plan to train squads, platoons and companies in the new regulations and doctrines and when ready then combining them in battalion and regimental exercises. These battalion and regimental exercises started to happen in 1924 and the first divisional exercises in 1926. During this time, it was the Truppenamt's role to ensure that old 'trench warfare' and 'positional warfare' tactics did not creep back into use. Cross training regimes were reviewed, long length operational order writing was eliminated, attack styles that took too long to prepare were eliminated. Innovation and flexibility for mobile warfare were stressed over carefully planned methods used in static warfare.